Field of the Invention
The present disclosure generally relates to user input mechanisms, and more particularly, to any type of device, apparatus and/or system having at least one capacitive touch button with a guard feature that provides, among other things, the ability to detect and reject false touches.
Background Information
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art, which may be related to the present embodiments that are described below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light.
Home and mobile user devices often include one more buttons as part of a user interface. These interfaces may often rely on using one or more capacitive touch type buttons in place of more conventional tactile or positive pressure type buttons. With a capacitive touch button there may be no mechanical feedback to indicate that a button press has occurred. This can result in user confusion and/or frustration. For example, with certain conventional electronic devices (e.g., set-top boxes, etc.), it may be relatively easy for a user to accidentally turn the device off while simply repositioning the device if, for instance, the user puts his or her palm over a capacitive power button of the device. One approach for attempting to reject false positives is to simply change the sensitivity of a capacitive sensor associated with the capacitive touch button. However, such an approach alone is deemed less than optimal.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art to address the foregoing issues and thereby provide an improved design for a capacitive touch button. The present embodiments described herein address these and/or other issues.